Phillies fumble away game to Marlins
For seven innings, the rebuilding Phillies accumulated good faith in front of a small Sunday crowd at Citizens Bank Park as they neared a three-game sweep. They clobbered home runs and survived a mediocre outing by Alec Asher. Then, in the eighth inning of a 5-4 loss to Miami, the Phillies collapsed on one another to form a pile of bad baseball.
For seven innings, the rebuilding Phillies accumulated good faith in front of a small Sunday crowd at Citizens Bank Park as they neared a three-game sweep. They clobbered home runs and survived a mediocre outing by Alec Asher. Then, in the eighth inning of a 5-4 loss to Miami, the Phillies collapsed on one another to form a pile of bad baseball.
Their best reliever, Hector Neris, permitted a game-tying home run when he was asked to record four outs in his 74th appearance. Their haphazard second baseman, Cesar Hernandez, bumped into Tommy Joseph near first base while both attempted to catch a routine pop-up. It plopped to the ground, and the eventual winning run later scored on an infield single.
"We let it slip away," Phillies manager Pete Mackanin said. "We should have won that game."
But these moments in a season congested with ugliness were expected. The Phillies, on Sunday, employed a lineup of nine players all under the age of 27 for the first time in more than 55 years. Their last lineup this young played at Connie Mack Stadium in 1961, a Phillies season that featured 107 losses. This team is not close to that ineptitude, but it is one that experiences frequent growing pains.
There are oddities contained within. When Freddy Galvis blasted his 20th home run of the season in the sixth inning, the 2016 Phillies accomplished something no Phillies team before them had done: They boast four infielders with 20 or more homers in the same season. Maikel Franco, Ryan Howard, Tommy Joseph, and Galvis have all done it. Weird game.
No one predicted power for Galvis, regarded before this season as a light-hitting infielder with a pristine glove. He became the eighth shortstop to reach 20 homers in 2016, which is the most ever in one season, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Galvis, though, has the worst on-base percentage (.272) for any qualified hitter in baseball.
"Thank God I finally found my swing and a good approach," Galvis said. "I'll try to keep doing it."
The Phillies led from the first inning on until everything crumbled in the eighth. Neris had struck out Dee Gordon on three splitters to end the seventh inning. Mackanin tried to squeeze Neris through the eighth inning in a two-run game. But Neris walked Derek Dietrich to start the inning.
Two batters later, Christian Yelich lined a home run off the foul pole in left field. Neris stopped using the splitter, which prompted a mound meeting with Mackanin.
"Why aren't you using your split?" Mackanin asked. "Is there a reason for it? Those are the best splitters I've seen."
The manager said he was surprised. Neris said he planned to throw Yelich a splitter on the next pitch, but he homered before he could.
The next batter, Marcell Ozuna, skied a routine ball behind first base. Joseph settled under it, but Hernandez drifted toward him. They collided. The ball struck Hernandez's glove. It fell to the dirt. Ozuna stood on second with a gift.
"It's right above Tommy Joseph," Mackanin said. "If Cesar is going to make an attempt to catch the ball, he has to call it. He never said a word. That was a mental mistake on his part."
Ozuna moved to third on a groundout. J.T. Realmuto, one of the faster catchers in baseball, chopped a hard grounder behind the third-base bag. Franco played it well, but his throw pulled Joseph from the bag.
The scattered fans who chose baseball over football booed.
"Sometimes we're going to commit mistakes," Galvis said. "We feel bad because we lost the game. We have to talk about that play, about the situation. We could do better."
@MattGelb